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Brexit may exacerbate shortages of health professionals in the UK

The UK’s departure from the European Union will have wide ranging consequences, including doctors leaving the country. As a member of the EU for over 40 years, the UK is fully linked with Europe in all sectors of its society. This includes the NHS, which faces major risks if it fails to tackle the challenges that Brexit poses.

The NHS has faced shortages in its clinical workforce for many decades and has relied heavily on doctors, nurses, and other health professionals who were trained overseas to fill the gaps. This reliance will not end in the foreseeable future. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary for England, has announced that the government will support the creation of an additional 1500 medical student places at England’s medical schools, but these students won’t complete their medical courses and postgraduate medical training for over 10 years.

The recruitment of medical staff trained overseas has been facilitated by EU legislation on the mutual recognition of the training of health professionals. This means that health professionals trained in one EU country can work in another EU country without undergoing additional training. Whether this recognition of clinical training will continue is unclear, placing further pressure on recruitment and exacerbating shortages of health professionals.

This blog was originally published as a letter in the BMJ.

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